KR20120080948A - Water purifier with self-examination function - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A self diagnostic water purifier is provided to minimize costs increase and design freedom limit by using existing components commonly equipped in a water purifier. CONSTITUTION: A self diagnostic water purifier comprises a heating unit, a hot bath, a temperature sensor, and a control unit. The heating unit heat up the water. The hot bath supplies an insulation room storing the heated water. The temperature sensor measures the temperature of stored heated water. The control unit controls the heating unit and measures the operating period of the heating unit for detecting the fault of the hot bath.

Description

Water purifier with self-diagnosis function {WATER PURIFIER WITH SELF-EXAMINATION FUNCTION}

The present invention relates to a water purifier having a self-diagnostic function, and more particularly, to a water purifier having a function capable of confirming abnormality of a hot water tank of the water purifier.

Water purifier is a device that filters harmful substances such as foreign substances or heavy metals in water by physical and chemical methods. Articles similar to such water purifiers include ionizers and the like.

The structure of the water purifier includes a filter unit for filtering contaminants from raw water containing pollutants, a tank unit for storing purified water past the filter unit, and a discharge unit for extracting purified water stored in the tank unit. Can be divided. When power is supplied to the water purifier, raw water is supplied to the filter unit, purified, and stored in the water tank unit.

In addition, in addition to simply purifying the raw water, it also provides a cold and hot water function to provide cold water and hot water by cooling or heating the purified water. In order to provide such a hot and cold water function, a means for cooling or heating the purified purified water and a cold water tank and a hot water tank for storing the cooled or heated cold / hot water are included.

Cold water tanks and hot water tanks have insulated characteristics in common, and in the case of hot water tanks, since the temperature difference with the room temperature of the stored hot water is larger than that of cold water, excellent heat insulating performance is required. In addition, since hot water has a lower frequency of use compared to cold water in general use, the time for the hot water heated by the heating means to stay inside the hot water tank is longer than that of the cold water. It is possible to reduce the power consumption.

As a hot water tank of a conventional cold and hot water purifier, a heat insulating material is disposed outside of a hot water tank made of a material such as stainless steel. In recent years, the use of a vacuum hot water tank is gradually increasing to obtain higher heat insulating performance.

The vacuum hot water tank has a double wall having a storage space therein, and the space between the double walls is maintained in a vacuum. Such a vacuum hot water tank can provide excellent heat insulation performance compared to a hot water bath using a conventional heat insulator, but the heat insulation performance is particularly affected by the degree of vacuum between the double walls, which requires special attention.

In particular, since various components such as a heating means, a drain pipe, a water supply pipe, and an outlet pipe are attached to the hot water tank, even if the initial state of the vacuum hot water tank is not abnormal, leakage may occur at the point of contact with these to reduce the degree of vacuum. There is. Such leakage may occur due to an impact applied during manufacturing, transportation, or installation, or may be caused by deterioration of a joint due to prolonged use.

However, since the change in the degree of vacuum in the vacuum hot water tank cannot be visually confirmed, in order to measure the change in the degree of vacuum, a measuring means must be inserted into the wall of the vacuum hot water tank. It is virtually impossible to do.

The present invention has been made to overcome the disadvantages of the prior art as described above, the technical problem is to provide a water purifier having a means that can easily check the change in the degree of vacuum of the vacuum hot water tank.

According to an aspect of the present invention for achieving the above technical problem, a heating means for generating hot water by heating the purified water; A hot water tank providing an adiabatic space for storing the hot water; Temperature sensing means for measuring a temperature of hot water stored in the hot water tank; And a controller for controlling the operation of the heating means based on the information provided by the temperature sensing means, wherein the controller measures an operating cycle of the heating means and compares it with a reference period to determine an abnormality of the hot water tank. A water purifier for determining whether or not is provided.

In the above aspect of the present invention, in checking whether the heat insulation performance of the hot water tank is abnormal, instead of directly checking the hot water tank, it detects a change in characteristics that may occur due to a decrease in the heat insulation performance, and based on this, whether the hot water tank is abnormal. Make it detectable.

For example, the heating means for generating hot water is operated and stopped in conjunction with the temperature of the hot water, the heat loss of the hot water tank is increased when the heat insulation performance is lowered compared to the case where the heat insulation performance of the hot water tank is normal operation of the heating means. The frequency will also increase. Therefore, the inventors of the present invention, by measuring the operating cycle of the heating means, and compared with the reference value to determine the abnormality of the hot water tank. This is especially useful when it is not easy to check whether the insulation performance is abnormal, such as a vacuum hot water tank.

In addition to the operation cycle of the heating means, if the thermal insulation performance is deteriorated, the temperature decrease rate of the hot water stored in the hot water tank is increased, it may be to check whether or not on the basis of this. That is, by measuring the amount of change in the temperature of the hot water stored in the hot water tank and the time required up to that time, it is possible to measure the rate of temperature drop of the hot water, and to check whether the hot water tank is abnormal by comparing it with a reference value. In general, the inside of the hot water tank is provided with a temperature sensing means for measuring the temperature of the hot water, it is possible to apply without adding a separate device.

In addition, the temperature sensing means may be additionally installed outside the hot water tank, and a temperature difference between the inside and the outside of the hot water tank may be used, and the temperature of the water purifier body may be measured to determine whether the hot water tank is abnormal. That is, when an abnormality occurs in the heat insulation performance, the amount of heat leaked increases, and thus the temperature inside the water purifier increases so that it is possible to check whether the hot water tank is abnormal.

In any case, the measured value is judged by comparing with the reference value. The reference value may be inputted to the control unit by predetermined value of the settlement range through various tests at the time of manufacture, and repeatedly measured after installation. It can also be set on the basis of these values. In the latter case, it is possible to obtain a reference value that reflects the environment of the installation site.

Meanwhile, in measuring and determining the respective values, additional matters may be considered to increase accuracy. For example, based on the operating cycle of the heating means may consider the amount of hot water used together. Even if there is no abnormality in the hot water tank, the increase in the use of hot water increases the frequency of operation. Therefore, the operating cycle of the heating means may be measured and utilized for the unit usage amount, or the operating cycle of the heating means may be measured only while the hot water is not used. This can be performed only while the hot water is not used, even when the temperature decrease rate of the hot water and the temperature difference between the inside and the outside of the hot water tank are used.

In addition, values such as the temperature drop rate in the hot water tank and the temperature difference in the inside and the outside may be affected by not only the thermal insulation performance but also the room temperature of the place where the water purifier is installed, and thus the temperature of the room may be measured and compared together.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a diagnostic method of a water purifier including a heating means that is operated and stopped according to the temperature of hot water stored in the hot water tank, the method comprising: measuring the temperature of the hot water in the hot water tank; Measuring a time taken for the hot water to fall from the first temperature to the second temperature; And diagnosing abnormality by comparing the measured time with a reference time.

Here, the first temperature may be a temperature at which the operation of the heating means is stopped, and the second temperature may be a temperature at which the operation of the heating means is started.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a diagnostic method of a water purifier including a heating means that is operated and stopped according to the temperature of hot water stored in the hot water tank, the method comprising: measuring the temperature of the hot water in the hot water tank; Starting and stopping the heating means based on the measured temperature; Measuring a period of time after the heating means is stopped and operated; And determining whether there is an abnormality in comparison with the measured period and the reference period.

Here too, the reference values on which the judgment, such as the reference time or reference period, can be determined in advance or obtained through repeated use.

According to one aspect of the present invention having the configuration as described above it is possible to easily and quickly check even if the hot water tank does not check whether or not. In particular, since the devices generally provided in the water purifier can be utilized, it is possible to minimize the cost increase or the limitation of design freedom due to the addition of the diagnostic function.

1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of a water purifier according to the present invention.
2 is a block diagram schematically showing the internal structure of the embodiment.
3 is a cross-sectional view schematically illustrating an internal structure of the vacuum hot water tank of FIG. 1.
4 is a flowchart illustrating a process of determining whether a vacuum hot water tank is abnormal in the embodiment shown in FIG. 1.
5 is a graph showing a change in the heater heating cycle due to a decrease in the thermal insulation performance of the vacuum hot water tank.
FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating another process of determining whether a vacuum hot water tank is abnormal in the embodiment shown in FIG. 1.

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings will be described in detail an embodiment of a water purifier having a self-diagnostic function according to the present invention.

1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of a water purifier according to the present invention, Figure 2 is a block diagram schematically showing the internal structure of the embodiment. 1 and 2, the water purifier 10 according to the embodiment includes a filter unit 20, a water tank unit 30, a blowout unit 40, and the filter unit 20 provided in a case 13 forming an external appearance. It includes a control unit 110 for controlling the operation of the water purifier 10.

The case 13 is generally provided in the shape of a cube, but the shape of the water purifier according to the present embodiment is not limited thereto.

The case 13 is provided with a filter unit 20, a water tank unit 30, etc. therein, is connected to the water tank unit 30 by a pipe and the extraction unit 40 to be exposed to the front of the case 13 Is provided.

In addition, the front of the case 13 is provided with an operation panel 50 having an operation button 51 and a display unit 52 for operating the operation of the water purifier 10.

The operation button 51 includes a plurality of buttons related to the operation of the water purifier, and the display unit 52 has a 7-segment type, a liquid crystal display type, and a light emitting diode (LED). It may be provided in a display format.

In addition, the inner side of the case 13 is provided with a control unit 110 for controlling its operation through the internal components and signal transmission of the water purifier 10. The controller 110 may be provided as a printed circuit board (PCB) configured with a control circuit.

The filter unit 20 is an apparatus for purifying water introduced from a water source 11 such as tap water, a reservoir, and the like (hereinafter referred to as raw water) with purified water.

The filter unit 20 may include one or a plurality of arbitrary filters, and specifically, a sediment filter, a pre-carbon filter, and a reverse osmosis membrane filter. Membrane filter, post-carbon filter, post-carbon filter, ultra filtration filter, nano-filtration filter and the like.

The sediment filter is applied to the non-woven fabric to filter foreign matter and suspended matter contained in the raw water. The precarbon filter is applied with surfactant carbon to filter chlorine components, odors, etc. contained in raw water. The reverse osmosis membrane filter filters fine particles on the order of 0.001 μm. The post carbon filter removes pigments and odors because the adsorption power is relatively superior to that of the surface activated carbon of the precarbon filter. The hollow fiber membrane filter is applied to the hollow membrane in the middle to filter bacteria contained in the raw water. In addition, the pipe connecting the water source 11 and the filter unit 20 may further include a pre-filter for removing contaminants that may reduce the efficiency of the filter unit 20 in advance.

The water tank unit 30 includes a storage tank 31 in which a space for storing purified water purified by the filter unit 20 is formed. The storage tank 31 is provided with a partition plate 32 installed inside, by the water purification tank 31a in which the purified water passing through the filter portion by the partition plate 32 and the cooling means (not shown) It is partitioned into the cold water tank 31b which cools and stores purified water. Here, the purified water tank and the cold water tank may be formed by partitioning one storage tank as shown, but may also be provided as two physically separated tanks.

As the cooling means for cooling the cold water stored in the cold water tank, a refrigerant compression cycle apparatus or a thermoelectric element may be used. The water level sensor 33 is further provided inside the water purification tank 31a and the cold water tank 31b to grasp the stored water level of the purified water and the cold water.

In addition, a hot water tank 100 for generating and storing hot water by heating purified water supplied from the water purification tank 31a is provided separately from the storage tank 31. The hot water tank 100 will be described later.

The take-out part 40 is connected to the cold water tank 31b and the hot water tank 100, respectively, and includes a cold water lever 37 and a hot water lever 39 provided on the front surface of the case 13. When the cold water and hot water levers 37 and 39 are operated, the cold water discharge valve 43 and the hot water discharge valve 45 connected to the cold water tank and the hot water tank by the control unit 110 are operated to generate cold water or hot water. Will be supplied.

Here, the cold water extraction valve 43 and the hot water extraction valve 45 may be provided as a valve operated mechanically, such as a cock, or a solenoid valve opened and closed by receiving an electrical input.

Referring to FIG. 3, the hot water tank 100 will be described. The hot water tank 100 has a double wall structure as shown, and the space between the outer wall 102 and the inner wall 104 is maintained in a vacuum to obtain a heat insulating performance. In addition, an opening 106 is formed at a lower portion of the hot water tank 100, and a stopper 120 formed of a heat insulating material is sealed in the opening 106.

The stopper 120 provides an installation space for installing various pipes or sensors provided in the hot water tank 100, but in some cases, an example in which the stopper is removed and the whole is a double wall structure may be considered. In this case, the pipe or the sensor may be formed by forming a through hole penetrating the double wall structure.

The stopper 120 has a temperature sensor 121 for measuring the temperature of the hot water stored in the hot water tank 100, a heater 122 as a heating means for heating the water stored in the hot water tank 100, Thermostat 123 for controlling the operation of the heater in accordance with the temperature of the hot water in the hot water tank 100, the air vent pipe for discharging the steam generated by the heating of the hot water in the hot water tank 100 to the outside 124, a drain pipe 125 for discharging the water stored in the hot water tank to the outside when necessary, and an inlet pipe 130 through which water supplied from the purified water tank is introduced.

In this case, the components installed on the stopper 120 are not necessarily limited thereto, and the components do not need to be installed on the stopper 120. You can choose.

On the other hand, in the upper portion of the hot water tank 100, when the hot water lever 39 is operated, a discharge pipe 140 for discharging the stored hot water is installed.

Now, a method of determining whether there is an abnormality of the hot water tank 100 in the water purifier having the above configuration will be described with reference to FIG. 4.

Referring to FIG. 4, the determination of abnormality of the hot water tank may be performed periodically or when the user instructs the user. When the start of the hot water tank is started, it is checked whether the hot water extraction valve is opened or closed (step S01). Since hot water is supplied when the hot water valve is open, the temperature inside the hot water tank is greatly changed, and since the change of temperature is not related to the change of insulation performance, it is difficult to make accurate measurements. Check for presence.

If it is confirmed that the hot water extraction valve is closed, the operating cycle of the heater is measured (step S02). Here, the operating cycle of the heater means a time after the operation of the heater is stopped until the hot water temperature inside the hot water tank is lowered and the heater is restarted. In addition, any value related to the operating time of the heater may be used as the operation period, for example, it may be determined by measuring the time when the heater is operated. This is because, under other conditions, the lower the thermal insulation performance, the greater the amount of heat lost and the longer the operating time of the heater. As such, with regard to the operation of the heater, any parameter that may vary in case of a change in the insulation performance may be utilized as the operation cycle.

Thereafter, the measured measurement cycle is compared with the reference cycle (step S03). Here, the reference period refers to the operation cycle of the heater when the hot water tank maintains the normal state. In this regard, Figure 5 is a graph showing the change in the operating cycle of the heater according to the change in the thermal insulation performance of the hot water tank, (a) corresponds to the case where the hot water tank insulation performance is normal, (b) is to the hot water tank insulation performance. If there is an abnormality, for example, the vacuum degree is lowered. Referring to Figure 5, it can be seen that the operating cycle of the heater is very short when the hot water tank is abnormal compared to the case.

The change in the working cycle is more prominent in the case of using a vacuum hot water tank than in a hot water tank using a general heat insulator. In the case of a vacuum hot water tank, the heat insulating performance is greatly changed according to the change in the degree of vacuum. You can check whether or not.

Therefore, if it is determined in step S03 that the measurement period is lower than the reference period, since there is an abnormality in the thermal insulation performance of the vacuum hot water tank, it indicates that an abnormality has occurred through the display unit.

Here, the reference period may be determined in consideration of the specification of the heater or the thermal insulation performance of the hot water tank in the product design and development stage, or may use the value determined by performing a plurality of tests. However, since the reference period may vary depending on the environment of the place where the water purifier is installed or the temperature of the supplied water source, the operation period is measured a plurality of times after the product is initially installed, and the average value of the measured values is measured. Can be used as a reference cycle. In addition, the reference period may be used as one of numerical values for calculating an average value when the measurement weight is confirmed to be normal in the step S03, so that the reference period may be updated at every measurement.

On the other hand, in addition to the operating cycle of the heater can be used for checking the thermal insulation performance of the vacuum hot water tank, a variety of characteristics, for example, on the basis of the temperature reduction rate of the hot water stored in the hot water tank can determine whether there is an abnormality of the hot water tank. Thus, an example using the temperature drop rate of hot water is shown in FIG.

Referring to Figure 6, after confirming the opening and closing state of the hot water extraction valve initially as shown in the embodiment shown in Figure 4 (S11 step), only whether the hot water tank is closed to check the abnormality of the hot water tank. Thereafter, the temperature t1 of the hot water stored in the hot water tank is measured through the temperature sensor (step S12). Then, after the predetermined time? T elapses, the temperature t2 of the warm water is measured again (step S13).

Thereafter, after comparing the speed of temperature reduction with the reference speed in step S14, if the measured temperature reduction speed is greater than the reference speed, the heat insulation performance of the hot water tank is deteriorated. Therefore, an error message is output through the display unit. (Step S15).

Claims (16)

Heating means for heating the purified water to generate hot water;
A hot water tank providing an adiabatic space for storing the hot water;
Temperature sensing means for measuring a temperature of hot water stored in the hot water tank; And
And a controller for controlling the operation of the heating means based on the information provided by the temperature sensing means.
The control unit measures a working cycle of the heating means, and compares it with a reference period to determine whether the hot water tank is abnormal. The method of claim 1,
And the reference period is a predetermined value. The method of claim 1,
And the reference period is determined from values measured over a plurality of times of the bleeding of the heating means. The method of claim 3,
And the reference period is an average of a plurality of measured values. Heating means for heating the purified water to generate hot water;
A hot water tank providing an adiabatic space for storing the hot water;
Temperature sensing means for measuring a temperature of hot water stored in the hot water tank; And
And a controller for controlling the operation of the heating means based on the information provided by the temperature sensing means.
The control unit is a water purifier to determine the abnormality of the hot water tank by measuring the time it takes to cool the hot water stored in the hot water tank to the set temperature through the temperature sensing means, and compares it with a reference time. The method of claim 5,
The set temperature is a water purifier, characterized in that the temperature at which the operation of the heating means is started. The method of claim 5,
And the reference time is a predetermined value. The method of claim 5,
The reference time is a water purifier, characterized in that determined from the values measured over a plurality of times the temperature change of the hot water. The method of claim 8,
And said reference time is an average of a plurality of measured values. A diagnostic method of a water purifier comprising heating means which are operated and stopped according to the temperature of hot water stored in a hot water tank,
Measuring a temperature of hot water in the hot water tank;
Measuring a time taken for the hot water to fall from the first temperature to the second temperature; And
Determining whether or not abnormality by comparing the measured time and the reference time; Diagnosis method of a water purifier comprising a. The method of claim 10,
And wherein the first temperature is a temperature at which the operation of the heating means is stopped, and the second temperature is a temperature at which operation of the heating means is started. The method of claim 11,
And the reference time is input in advance. The method of claim 11,
The reference time is a diagnostic method of the water purifier, characterized in that determined from the values measured over a plurality of times the temperature change of the hot water. A diagnostic method of a water purifier comprising heating means which are operated and stopped according to the temperature of hot water stored in a hot water tank,
Measuring a temperature of hot water in the hot water tank;
Starting and stopping the heating means based on the measured temperature;
Measuring a period of time after the heating means is stopped and operated; And
And determining whether there is an abnormality in comparison with the measured period and the reference period. 15. The method of claim 14,
And the reference period is input in advance. 15. The method of claim 14,
And said reference period is determined from the values measured over a plurality of times.

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